Six Adventures that Will Make You Love Winter

According to Climate Central, an independent organization of scientists and journalists that researches and reports the facts about our changing climate, last year was the hottest in the past 135. Now, as we approach fall 2015, it’s looking like this year just might top that record.

That’s all the more reason for you to embrace and celebrate winter—while we still have it. Winter reminds us of the beauty and awe we always feel when we encounter ice and snow: whether that’s in an ancient and immense glacier that flows down to the sea; in a huge, blue iceberg that floats by; or in an ice-rimmed river that winds through a snow-dusted, pine forest.

Below, I’ve gathered together some of my favorite winter adventures. Not only do all of them depart during the winter months (if you live in the northern hemisphere), they will transport you into wintry worlds where the white season’s best gifts can easily be yours.

Northern hemisphere:

1. See polar bears in the wild in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada.

There’s nothing more iconic of the North than a polar bear. Seeing your first in the wild is a guaranteed heart-thumper. According to the ICUN’s Polar Bear Specialist Group, of the 19 subpopulations of polar bears, three are declining, six are stable and for nine, data is insufficient. Only one is increasing. Based on the fact that the world’s sea ice is rapidly diminishing, however, some scientists say we could lose about two-thirds of the world’s polar bears by mid-century.

See them now. You can pick from a multitude of polar bear tours that depart in October and November.

2. Search for gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park.

Yellowstone National Park is the best place on Earth to be able to see wild wolves. And the perfect time to spot them is in winter, when their dark forms contrast with the snow. There is another element that comes to the fore in Yellowstone during the fourth season: timelessness, as the park’s unique and ancient geologic features stand out in relief. Search for one of our nation’s top predators here in a season when you can more fully appreciate what the world must have looked like when it was new.

3. Watch the sky light up with northern lights in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada.

For eons, native peoples have made up stories about the northern lights: many of the Arctic’s Inuits believed that they were spirits of the dead playing a game with a walrus skull as the ball, indigenous Greenlanders thought they were the dancing spirits of children who had died at birth and Wisconsin’s Fox tribes saw them as their slain enemies preparing for revenge.

Create your own personal or family mythology regarding the aurora borealis by watching for the lights yourself under the crisp, clear skies over Hudson Bay, from January through March.

Southern hemisphere:

If you set out from the northern hemisphere in winter, you’ll arrive in the southern hemisphere in summer. But you’ll still touch the spheres of ice and snow:

4. Walk on a glacier in Patagonia.

In the magnificent wilderness of Argentina and Chile’s Patagonia region, by day you can walk under the surreal, snow-covered peaks of Torres del Paine, explore the icy valleys around Mount Fitz Roy and actually step foot on a glacier in Los Glaciares National Park. At night, you can enjoy the warmth, comfort and legendary hospitality of Patagonia’s ecocamps and lodges.

5. Float through the iceberg “cemeteries” in New Zealand.

New Zealand is filled with fairy tale meadows, frosty mountains, fast-flowing glaciers—and iceberg “cemeteries.” The South Island’s West Coast glaciers are probably the most accessible in the world, since they terminate in temperate rain forests not far above sea level. When pieces from these great blocks of ice break off, you can float by boat through their ethereal forms. The bergs come in all shapes and sizes that change with every new perspective and in every shade from the whitest of whites through the purest of blues to the deepest grays.

6. Explore the White Continent of Antarctica.

Very few of the world’s adult population—at most 0.02 percent—have had the opportunity to go to Antarctica. But here, at the bottom of the globe, what we think of as “winter” rules. Ice is land, landscape and lord.

The only living things here have found a way to embrace the ice, snow and cold temperatures. What they are able to savor in return is a clean, quiet, and incredibly exceptional and stunning home.

Ships bound for Antarctica set off from port October through March. Leave home in your city’s winter, arrive during the continent’s summer and discover the perennial white season in your soul.

A multiple award-winning author and writer specializing in nature-travel topics and environmental issues, Candice has traveled around the world, from the Arctic Circle to Antarctica, and from New Zealand to Scotland's far northern, remote regions. Her assignments have been equally diverse, from covering Alaska’s Yukon Quest dogsled race to writing a history of the Galapagos Islands to describing and photographing the national snow-sculpting competition in her home state of Wisconsin.In addition to being a five-time book author, Candice's work has also appeared in several national and international publications, such as "The Huffington Post" and "Outside Magazine Online." To read her web columns and see samples of her nature photography, visit her website at www.candiceandrews.com and like her Nature Traveler Facebook page at www.facebook.com/naturetraveler.

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Good Nature is the official nature and adventure travel blog of Natural Habitat Adventures. We feature reports from the field, news about the natural world and thoughts from our accomplished writers and staff.

The views expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect the views of Natural Habitat Adventures or WWF.